The long-vacant former Brookfield Square Boston Store will be demolished while the property owner considers options for redeveloping the site.
A new city permit allows demolition to begin soon, with that work likely to be completed by year's end, said Tom Irgens, executive vice president of Irgens development firm.
The firm, which bought the property in 2021, in 2022 disclosed conceptual plans ideas for the 16-acre site at the mall's northern end. They included a five-story hotel, a five-story apartment building and office buildings.
Irgens said in a Monday statement his firm is finalizing ideas of how the redeveloped site "can be a positive, catalytic project that will add further excitement and vitality to the Bluemound Road Corridor and the community overall."
“We look forward to continued discussions with Irgens about how reimagining this site can further strengthen our community’s efforts to be all that it can be," Mayor Steven Ponto said, in a statement.
The rest of Brookfield Square will continue to be accessible during the demolition, Irgens said.
A new mall entrance will be constructed at the shopping center’s north end after the atrium which connects the former Boston Store to the mall area is torn down.
The store has been vacant since parent company Bon-Ton Stores Inc. was liquidated in 2018.
Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, X and Facebook.
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This story was updated to add a video.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Former Milwaukee-area Boston Store to be razed, with site redeveloped